Brown Sugar and Spice Cut-out Cookies

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I don't mess with my cookie recipe much. Sometimes, I change up the extracts or add vanilla bean paste, but usually I stick with what works.

Fall spices were calling to me, though, and I thought I'd try to use them in a cut-out cookie. It worked!!! These cookies are lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. I replaced half with sugar with light brown sugar. The cookies ended up slightly softer, but still sturdy enough for decorating.

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix until well-blended.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. (The dough will be quite thick...you may need to knead in stray bits of flour from the bottom of the bowl by hand.)Roll on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cutter. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

To decorate these cookies, I used pale green, ivory and light orange for the pumpkins. After being outlined and filled, they dried completely overnight.

For the sparkly accents, mix a small amount of meringue powder with water. With a child's paintbrush, paint the area you would like to be sparkle-d (that's a word, right?).

Then, shake on sanding sugar all over the cookie. Turn the cookie upside down and shake off the excess. (I do this over a basket coffee filter and use that to funnel the extra back into the container.)

These are waiting in the freezer to be donated on Thanksgiving for Drop In & Decorate. Are you making some, too? If so, I'd love to have pictures and details of where and how many cookies you donated by December 10th. Thank you!

I think I'm in love. Those are amazing colors you used on the pumpkins! What a great change from the usual bright orange, green, and deep brown. The sparkles are a lovely touch. Where do you come up with these ideas?!?!?!

Bridget...Bridget...Bridget! I am so tickled that you posted about these spiced iced cookies! They are LOVELY! You are just so good at what you do! Sure wish you could fly into Seattle...ferry over to Bainbridge...come into my kitchen and make cookies with me!

Hey Bridget! Just checking in on your wonderful creations! I am still alive, just taking a break from blogging. I am doing some baking today and making fudge. Take care and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I accidentally came across your blog about 2 weeks ago. Ever since then I've been wanting to try to make decorated cookies. I tried my first batch last night and I'm in love. I made several mistakes, but I managed to overcome them. Like using too much red coloring and having to throw it all out (yuck!) or making the piping way too dry at first. But all in all I'm hooked and now I can't wait to try these spice cookies for Thanksgiving. Thanks for this great blog. I do have one question and maybe you have answered this before, but .. If I want to have a slight gloss to the icing, how do I do that?

Unbelievably gorgeous. I am just so motivated by your beautiful work. I think I've read every inch of your blog, but wanted to clarify something you said in this post. You said the cookies would be waiting in the freezer for your drop in and decorate. I read your post about freezing un-decorated cookies. Are these in your freezer decorated?

Love the addition of the spices! Can almost smell them from here!I,also, have my favorite cut out recipe, but looks like it's time to try some additions like yours! Thanks! Beautiful cookies- as usual!

Woah - you can freeze them??? I am baking decorated sugar cookies like these for a bridal shower on Sunday. Had no idea freezing them was an option! That is GREAT news!!!! Otherwise I fear I woiuld've been up until 2 a.m. Sunday morning making Royal Icing and decorating cookies:(

These are so cute!! I wanted to make something semi-fancy for Thanksgiving, so I think I'm going to try these! The problem I usually have when cutting the cookies into shapes is that the cookies spread alot while they're baking and kinda lose their shape, and end up really big cookies. Any tips to help prevent spreading while they're baking? I think my first problem was trying to use the pre-made dough... So I'm hoping that using this recipe will make a difference too. Thanks so much for your ideas!!

These cookies taste amazing! I have never strayed from my plain-Jane sugar cookie recipe, but I had to give these a try. I made turkeys, and so the icing was mostly brown = chocolate. The chocolate icing together with the spiced cookie was awesome! Thanks for a great recipe!

We are one of those families that has benefited from the local soup kitchen often. Actually, we are going to a Christmas party there this year, and I was hoping to make a kazillion of these to donate for that event, but I can't figure out how to make the lovely icing,...royal icing,..maybe? Thank you for the recipe--AND the inspiration!!! God Bless!

You have no idea how much I've been searching for exactly this kind of cookie! bless you! Can you share with me how you made the frosting?I'd sure love to make these and you can bet I'll blog about them when I do.

Ouch. I was WAY off on my cookie cutter estimate...I guessed over 400, lol. Sooo, you better buy some more girl! ;)

These cookies are PERFECT!! I want to make these!! Oh, actually it would be fun to do these with that technique to make Christmas ornament ball cookies....I can't believe how gorgeous these are. Wow. You are so talented. I just posted a Fall cookie post and wanted to let you know so you could take a peek since you're the queen of cookies! I used maple extract instead of almond for the fall flavors. I do so love your idea though of the spices you added!

This looks much like a recipe I found from Domino Sugar website called Brown Sugar and Spice cookies. I always cut them into star shapes at Christmas. They are my favorites and they keep very well. These are beautifully decorated

I made these on Wednesday night for Thanksgiving and they were great. The spices were great for this time of year and they smelled soooo good when they were baking! I had to make another batch today because I didn't even get to try one yesterday before they were gone. Thanks for sharing! And congrats on your new little nephew!

I came across your blog while searching for my usual spice cookie recipe, and I definitely want to try yours now! I usually use my leaf shaped cookie cutters. I will have to look for your frosting recipe next...I assume you make your own...These look so yummy!When we were trying to sell our last house/condo, I baked spice cookies before showings which created a wonderful aroma, and I think it must have helped make a quick sell!

I am not a big sugar cookie fan..frankly, I don't have much use for cookies that don't include chocolate! But I made these cookies for a baby girl shower - GRACIOUS! These are awesome. So, so yummy! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

I am making fall leaf and acorn cookies this weekend (like the ones Callye made recently) and I think this recipe would be perfect for them. Even though it's going to be close to 100 degrees here in L.A., fall flavors are calling me!

My sisters birthday is coming up and Im going to make some frog sugar cookies, using this spice recipe.

I just wanted to ask before baking, in case you knew...I only have the dry granulated style brown sugar. None of that pretty moist, pack it in brown sugar. Do you think the lack of moister in the brown sugar will effect the cookie recipe negativly?

Omg. I just made these for my coworkers for tomorrow and they're so amazing. I don't typically like making my own cut out cookie dough (bad, bad, bad experience with it when I was in seventh grade. Horribly traumatized.) but I thought I would conquer my fears today with this recipe since the store-bought dough never seems tasty enough.

They came out perfectly. Not only did they roll-out easier for me, but they baked up nicer and they taste amazing. The only change I made was that I didn't have Ginger, so I used cloves instead. Still very tasty.

I have a sugar cookie recipe that I really like, but I wanted to experiment by adding lemon extract or other spices, but how do I go about figuring out how much to add. What determines the amount of spices I add to the recipe? I am new to cookie decorating and have never taken a baking class. I have searched the web for more information, but I am not able to find answers. I appreciate any help/guidance you can provide. Thank you.

Bridget, Do you use cold, salted butter for this recipe as you do with your vanilla-almond cookies? I'm an unsalted, room temp butter kind of gal, and I don't want to end up with a sticky mess on my hands! Thank you for the recipe!

I made these this evening and plan on freezing them and decorating them closer to Halloween. They are a very good cookie, held their shape well, and I enjoyed them. I do think I will add a pumpkin flavored emulsion to the next batch. The flavoring is not overpowering, but the pumpkin spice flavor is very subtle. If you're looking that tastes a bit like a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte or something this will not be that. Still, if I add the emulsion I will definitely make this again.

I know you replied to this post a year ago, so I am hoping that you see this. Based on your post it looks like you have experience with freezing cookies. I wanted to make these cookies this weekend and freeze them till Thanksgiving. I was planning on baking and then vacuum sealing then with my foodsaver before freezing. Do you think they would be ok in the freezer until then? If so, could I go ahead and decorate them before vacuum sealing? I would really appreciate any advice you can give me. I am trying to get ahead of the game this year so the holidays aren't so stressful.

I made these last weekend, and they were a real hit! I cut them out with leaf cookie cutters, and had six kids decorate them with icing and sprinkles. They were even tasty plain though. Love the fall spices and flavors. My new go-to fall cookie recipe!! Thank you!

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Welcome to Bake at 350! I'm Bridget and I like all things sweet...especially cookie decorating. I hope you'll find some inspiration here. So, grab a chair (and a cookie) and let's get baking! [read more here >>]